International Encyclopedia of Economic Sociology: Karl Marx

I just received my copy of the International Encyclopedia of Economic Sociology from Routledge. Some time ago, I told the story of how I came to author two articles for that newly published reference work. The 2006 volume includes two essays authored by me: one on "Karl Marx," the other on "libertarianism."

Today, with permission from Routledge, I publish an HTML version of the essay on "Karl Marx." Given my comments today in this thread, I am happy that the essay on Marx highlights one of the most appealing aspects of his work: his use of dialectical method. Readers should point their browsers to the following link to take a look at the essay:

Keep in mind that for Ralph to say about something that "it's not exactly horrible" is almost high praise coming from him, since Ralph finds most things in the intellectual world to be horrible or worse.

:) I know Ralph a long, long time. He was always very helpful to me in pointing out some excellent sources for my research, and I acknowledge that input in my book, Total Freedom: Toward a Dialectical Libertarianism.

I'm not quite sure how to reply to his criticisms here. With one breath, he says it's too philosophical, and with the other, he says that "the philosophical aspect was handled badly." Ouch.

Let's engage in a little context-keeping: It is always very difficult to write a less-than-2000 word entry on any subject, especially one so complex as Marx, which must touch upon who influenced him and those whom he influenced, his impact on economic sociology, the debate over "determinism," the importance of methodology, the various interpretations of his project, and the debates among modern expositors.

Invariably, one's selections for an article will meet with criticism in these instances.

As for my selections: I think Alexander was a good citation to satisfy the requirement that I focus on criticism of Marx and the various interpretive takes on whether he was a "determinist." I think Bhaskar, for better or for worse, does articulate a movement among Marx scholars to distinguish between Marx and Engels. And I believe Ollman's work is second to none in its appreciation of one of the most important aspects of Marx's corpus: his use of dialectical method, so significant to the character of his "economic sociology."